Djokovic Dominates Nadal for Sony Title

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. — The ever-lengthening rivalry between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal has been best defined by sweat and toil, by trophies earned after hours of titanic rallies and risk.

But Sunday’s final at the Sony Open was more haiku than epic poem: a bravura Djokovic performance in which he consistently seemed a shot and an idea ahead.

His 6-3, 6-3 victory in their 40th encounter was one of the most lopsided in their series, and it again kept Nadal from winning this Masters 1000 title in a community and a stadium brimming with his fellow Spanish speakers.

“I played a few games and a few points the right way, with right intensity,” Nadal said. “But for the rest, easy to analyze. The opponent was better than me. That’s it.”

There was, of course, more to this brisk 1-hour-23-minute affair than that. There can be few true surprises between rivals who have played more often than any other men in the Open era. Success is a question of subtle tactical shifts, of executing familiar game plans, of physical and mental freshness. It is a question of confidence, too, innate and recently accumulated.

“With the way I played, I had to enjoy, had to feel good about myself,” Djokovic said. “And I was very confident in the court. But I did not want to lose focus for a second, because I knew that Rafa is a kind of a player that if you allow him, if you give him a chance, he’s going to capitalize.”

Djokovic failed to capitalize when it mattered most in 2013, falling to Nadal in the French Open semifinals and the United States Open final. But after losing the No. 1 ranking to Nadal last fall, Djokovic has struck back convincingly. Nadal still rules the rankings, but Djokovic is on the bigger roll.

He has won their last three matches, all in straight sets, and has narrowed the gap in their head-to-head record, which is now 22-18 in Nadal’s favor.

Sunday’s victory gave Djokovic his fourth title in Key Biscayne and also allowed him to sweep the March hardcourt swing in the United States after beating Roger Federer in the final in Indian Wells.

The last three times a man has completed that double, he has finished the year ranked No. 1: Federer in 2005 and 2006 and Djokovic in his magnificent 2011 season.

“I think he has found himself,” said Marian Vajda, Djokovic’s longtime coach. “Game-wise, he knows what to do now, and you know he’s back to where he feels good on the court, and obviously, he has a big advantage now going on the clay. It’s a bit of a race with Rafa, like Formula One, and he’s a bit ahead now. But Rafa’s level can increase anytime on clay.”

Vajda is sharing coaching duties with a new head coach: Boris Becker, a former Wimbledon champion and world No. 1. Vajda was with Djokovic in Indian Wells and then filled in here because of Becker’s hip surgery.

It did not pass unnoticed that Djokovic’s two titles in 2014 came with Vajda, not Becker, in his box.

“He’s not just a coach to me; he’s truly a friend,” Djokovic said of Vajda. “He knows me very well. He knows me of course better than Boris, but Boris just started working with us, and we have a great communication. I look forward to seeing Boris in Monte Carlo.”

Vajda will be in Monte Carlo, too, where Djokovic will start his clay-court season in April. Nadal is the most successful clay-court player in history, having won a record eight times in Monte Carlo and also at the French Open, the one Grand Slam singles title Djokovic has not won.

“If I play this way, I think I have a very good chance against him on clay as well,” Djokovic said in a postmatch interview with ESPN.

That remains to be proved in Paris, but Djokovic has already proved himself on hardcourts, winning 14 of their 21 matches on the surface.

On Sunday, he was much tighter to the baseline and able to control the majority of the rallies and keep Nadal off balance. It was a day when he was the puncher and Nadal the counterpuncher, and it was also a day when Djokovic often chose to drill into the left-handed Nadal’s bedrock, attacking his bolo whip of a forehand.

“Obviously, his forehand is his strength,” Djokovic said. “He runs around his backhand, so he opens the court for his opponent on the forehand side, but I had to play it very precise and deep.”

From Nadal’s perspective, it all came too easily. Though he said he was healthy, he felt he did not move as well as usual.

“He succeeded in opening up space in the court on me without having to take too much risk which for me is a terrible situation,” Nadal said. “I was missing a bit this spark that would allow me to get to the ball, hit it and then recover in the point.”

They both finished the match at the net, with Djokovic answering Nadal’s backhand volley with a low winner. Nadal twisted to watch it pass, and after it bounced twice, Djokovic spread his arms, released his racket and fell slowly backward onto the court.

It is, in part, his court now after his four titles, and he remains — whatever the surface — the biggest challenge to a rival who has long made it clear how much he relishes challenges. Is Nadal glad, then, that Djokovic exists?

“No,” Nadal said immediately, as laughter reverberated through the interview room. “I like challenges, but I am not stupid.”

Perhaps Nadal might answer differently with a good night’s sleep. He still has the head-to-head advantage, and still seems to take his satisfactions from the journey and the grueling point at hand rather than the destination and the trophy.

But Djokovic was soon asked the same question.

“Well, I’m going to answer differently,” he said. “I think challenges, big challenges that I had in my career changed me in a positive way as a player. Because of Rafa and because of Roger, I am what I am today in a way.”

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page D8 of the New York edition with the headline: Djokovic Dominates Nadal for Sony Title. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe